Industry analyst advises SAIC to buy GM-Holden

Shanghai, November 20 (Gasgoo.com) An automotive commentator in Australia said it would be ideal for GM's Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), to buy GM-Holden as its crippled American parent General Motors fights for survival, according to a report from the Herald Sun.

Melbourne-based industry analyst John Mellor, the publisher of GoAuto.com, said "Holden could wind up in the hands of SAIC and being Asian-owned could help springboard the local industry into the growing Asian car markets."

""Why don't we link up with people who can make a success of things? Imagine the input of Chinese into our car industry," Mellor persuaded.

Mr Mellor said the Australian industry was an "enormous storehouse" of knowledge, innovation and low-cost production.

"The engineering ingenuity of the Australian carmakers is also well documented," he said. "And we have a very low-cost industry compared to the rest of the car-making world."

He also said Ford Australia could be bought by the Indian-based Tata Group, which already owns Jaguar and Land Rover.

Holden announced yesterday that production at its South Australian factory - the Adelaide plant - will stop for the first three months next year as a result of global economic crisis.

Though the Federal Government has announced a $6.2-billion car rescue deal, Mellor said the car rescue package is more about research and development and about developing the technology of the car industry.